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*Update April 5, 2017 : I called the CSR who said that there is still no feedback from the department which processes these claims. As per her, there hasn’t been a person who have gotten the points credited to their account.

So I couldn’t sleep and wanted to get this off my chest.

“Just a piece of paper”

Reading my email or my facebook news feed around the 3rd / 4th week of march, I saw that Cebu Pacific Getgo was already thanking people about supporting their 2nd anniversary promotions. I was like ‘If they are already thanking people, why is the 1000 points still not credited to my account?’

Backstory

I went to Osaka, Japan last March 1, 2017. On that flight, I won a 1000 pts voucher and the couple behind me won the other two. I was even telling myself how lucky I was since it was at that specific flight (and only until later did I learn that March 1 flights had this promotion) . I was really happy since I rarely win anything and I can get a free 1000pts without spending 88000php via my Unionbank Debit Card. In all honesty, I don’t really think earning miles benefits me but okay, better to have something in return since I’m spending money at our favorite supermarket drugstore anyway.

My return flight was on March 9, 2017 which was already 7 days after the claiming date of my voucher. I asked my mother to call them on March 2, 2017 for obvious reasons why I couldn’t call them but she forgot and luckily I remembered it on March 6, 2017. She then called the customer service hotline on March 7,2017 (which is also the last day of claiming points) who said to wait within the month of MARCH for the points to be credited. I believe I gave the complete details which shouldn’t have hindered the verification process.

I decided to call them up and follow up. I called twice because I gave the person the wrong date when I first called and had to verify with my mother again.

The first person. Because I made a mistake here, I won’t detail it much but basically from my understanding this was only a one day promotion so when he told me passengers of March 2, 2017 were also given 1000 pts vouchers… it shouldn’t have been valid. And it just goes to show how incompetent or I guess not informed are their customer representatives.

The second person. Sometimes, when I talk to these people, unless you sound angry they won’t take you seriously. She even said that they weren’t affliated with Cebu Pacific. In the end, I had her dig up the conversion from March 7, 2017 (since it’s supposed to be recorded) and finally said that it is already in the verification process.If people you talked with face to face you can’t trust, how to trust people you don’t speak to directly, right?

To me, this promotion was only a marketing gimmick and a big disappointment. I was told that unless they talked with the account holder they won’t credit? Bunch of Bull. The first call passed through. Does that mean to claim the points you can’t leave the country for more than 6 days?

From Getgo’s facebook page, it was like this promo never existed since I couldn’t find the post which said March 1, 2017 passengers had the chance to win 1000 Getgo points.

Additionally, am very super disappointed since they also don’t know how the computation of 88Php = 1 pt in the debit card is computed.

So lesson learned, unless something is already credited… you haven’t won anything and was just paasa-ed.

I can’t even write the word ‘scam’ since there was no money involved (just phone bills).

The latest offering of Cebu Pacific and Unionbank is their Getgo line of cards.

When I first read this as an advertisement somewhere, I was excited but I needed to wait for an acceptable date before I get one because I have an Unionbank Eon. When I saw an annual free for life advertisement (and considering that it was the same for the debit card), I registered my details in their website.

In fact, I really wanted the credit card but I will never get approved for that so I went for the debit card. At 88php=1 point, I can at least get something out of my purchases.

Last year, I went to the branch where I have an account. Despite having posters here and there, I can definitely say that the personnel that I’ve talked to is not familiar with this product and I was probably the first one to get this product.

In fact, I didn’t know that there was an annual fee of 500php and only knew it when I was there. Thinking of various factors, I still decided to get the card since the design was unique and I know I would be able to spend that high of an amount (on the assumption that I need to get 500 pts to retrieve the worth of the card per year). That’s at least 44,000php or 3700php/month. I also wanted to score some point flights.

This card works the same as the Unionbank Eon. The only difference is the points.

So after using this card for 2 months

PROS

1) 5 YEAR CARD LIFE as per Unionbank Eon 2 YEAR CARD LIFE.

2) If you don’t have a credit card and want to earn some Getgo points.

2) Not clear on how much of the purchases are actually calculated in the point system.

3) Expensive compared to Unionbank Eon. 500php vs 350php annual fee.

4) The people selling this product is not knowledgeable.

But what was most frustrating was after getting my card, two hours after, an email was sent to me telling me I could get the first year waived. Boiling with anger, I called Unionbank customer service which was also worthless since they didn’t know much about this product either. It is up to the banks discretion. In the end, I decided to just let it go.

For me, is it worth it?

Yes, worth it. For someone who can’t get a credit card and want to earn some points from Cebu Pacific without flying, I can say that the card is doing some convenience in my life. I also did realize that it might not be that worth it to get Getgo points but the 5 year life of the card is convenient.

In fact, I was able to recover the worth of the card in 2 months. Thanks to our monthly trips to Mercury Drugstore.